Search This Blog

Monday, December 14, 2009

DearREADERS,There has been a buzz lately about Ancestry's new Mundia website, but Ol' Myrt here definitely will not join thanks to Bill West who explained on Facebook that he was going to join Mundia until he read the Terms of Use.

Most of us skip over terms of service screens as they are somewhat generic. But thankfully, Bill took the time and discovered Ancestry.com's stated intentions:

The Website may contain areas where you can post content, such as text, images, photographs, data, files and other materials. For purposes of clarity, as between you and us, you retain ownership of any content that you post, subject to the following paragraph.

For each item of content that you post, you grant to us and our affiliates a world-wide, royalty free, fully paid-up, non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, transferable, and fully sublicensable (including to other Website users) license, without additional consideration to you or any third party, to: (i) reproduce, distribute, make available, transmit, communicate to the public, perform and display (publicly or otherwise), edit, modify, adapt, create derivative works from and otherwise use such content, in any format or media now known or later developed; (ii) exercise all trademark, publicity and other proprietary rights with regard to such content; (iii) use your name, photograph, portrait, picture, voice, likeness and biographical information as provided by you in connection with your content for the Service, in each case, in connection with your content. For example, after your registration or subscription has ended, we may continue to use and display any content that you previously posted, and other users may continue may access, change, edit, add to, subtract from or otherwise amend such content. If you do not want to grant us the rights set out in these Terms of Use, please do not post any content on the Website. [Emphasis is as it appears in the original.]

To the extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to waive all moral rights in any content that you post or send whilst using the Website, including the right to be identified as the author of such content.

Call me silly, but it appears that in paragraph #1 Ancestry.com at Mundia.com grants you full ownership of your uploaded content, but then paragraphs #2 & #3 effectively remove typical, standard ownership rights.

SO MUNDIA IS...... a member trees website that includes a map-based interface. It is a creation of Ancestry.com that is in a "beta" testing stage right now. The concept isn't new -- that of encouraging interface with other researchers whose ancestors are in the same geographic area as yours . Good idea, Ancestry.com.

That Ancestry.com wishes to own everything you post and can re-purpose your content in any venue it chooses is also, unfortunately, not a new concept. Bad idea, Ancestry.com.

IN MY HUMBLE OPINIONThis ill conceived project is just shades of the old Ancestry.com Internet Biographical Collection. See:

The only difference with Mundia is that Ancestry isn't culling the internet for external content to copy and place in the paid subscription area at Ancestry.com. This time Ancestry.com is inviting folks (who don't read the terms of use) to submit content so Ancestry.com can effectively own said content.

MOREPlease note that Ol' Myrt has benefitted by placing a version of her personal database online at Ancestry.com to allow Ancestry.com computers to find possible record matches and like-ancestored fellow researchers. But at Ancestry.com, unlike Mundia, members who upload info have the option to select public or private use.

If I find my content is considered owned by Ancestry.com, Ol' Myrt here will just give up on that site like I have Mundia. One researcher has observed "it would appear the Ancestry.com lawyers have taken over again" and left common sense behind -- effectively "waiving all moral rights".

The Ancestry.com legal team is messing up the good work being done by the programmers on the Mundia project.